Law firm twittering a waste: expert

A law firm marketing guru has spoken out against the use of microblogging service Twitter, claiming it's not an effective tool for law firm marketing.

A law firm marketing guru has spoken out against the use of microblogging service Twitter, claiming it's not an effective tool for law firm marketing.

Larry Bodine, a law firm business development adviser, points to a study conducted by the Harvard Business Review showing that most Twitter users don't actually use the service much. Ten per cent of active users are responsible for over 90% of all Tweets, it found.

The research found that 25 per cent of Twitter users don't tweet at all, while 50 per cent tweet less than once every 72 hours.

Bodine argues Twitter has increasingly become a target for viruses and worms that can be activated when users click on a shortened URL included in a tweet.

"We've all be sucked into the black hole of buzz about Twitter," Bodine reports. He said it is the least effective way to boost traffic to your website, compared with SEO, email promotions and blogs. He argued it will generate leads, but not necessarily sales, and that it can get lawyers and firms into trouble in the event of litigation.

'Twitter is a powerful distraction from getting real marketing work done," he said.

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